Triumph Lingerie introduced its new “magic wire” bra on Thursday with a party featuring music and dance performances, an illusionist performing magic tricks, and cocktails concocted in a secret bar hidden away at the brand’s pop-up shop in Manhattan.Gina Gershon,Debi Mazar, Katrina Bowden, and__Jill Hennessy__ were among the guests who checked out the lacy undergarments. Taryn Manning, a late arrival, just off a plane, took a few minutes to speak with VF Hollywood about the inspiration for herOrange Is the New Black character, Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett, her newfound respect for dental hygiene, the surprising lack of hate mail, and the very unsexy prison-issue undies they wear on OITNB.

Taryn Manning: Well, you know that thing that goes around, the 360? They had props, like outside, they had funny glasses, all kinds of stuff. And I saw the handcuffs, and they were real, and they’re, like, “We don’t know if those are going to come undone. That’s at your own risk.” And I’m, like, “Great!” But I got them open, I put them on. I don’t know, I was just being silly. I’m kind of a dork sometimes. I like to have fun.

Have you ever had to wear funny or embarrassing undergarments on a set, or in Orange Is the New Black?
That’s so funny you asked that. That’s hilarious. Yeah, we wear, like, court-ordered granny panties.

Prison authentic?
They’re authentic, yeah. And then, they’re almost like sports bras, and they flatten your boobs. So everyone just has, like, a uni-boob. [Laughs] But it’s fine, it gets you more into character, you’re just, like, getting this big old underwear on, and all. That’s funny.

Is there anyone that you based your character, Pennsatucky, on? Did you study people like that for the role?
Yeah. I kind of combined a few people. Did you ever see Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia? It’s amazing. It’s a documentary. It’s not that old. And I had already seen it, and loved it. And it was funny, because my mom’s maiden last name is White, so I’m, like, are these some of my ancestors in real life? I’m just kidding. But they fascinated me, that whole family, every single one of them. So I took a piece of all of them, and then, if you go on YouTube and just look up “hicks,” and the silly things they say and do. I have so many videos that I’ve aggregated, and I’ll just go and watch them. So she’s a little piece of a bunch of weirdos that I’ve seen, and then, of course, I just put my own spin on her as well.

In Season 2, she got new teeth. Is that your own teeth, or did they put caps on? How did that work?
It’s my own teeth. I thought it would be really funny, but it might have been a lot of work for me, to get oversized veneers. Like, you know when somebody gets a really bad veneer job? But we used my own teeth because time, you know, all that would it would take every day to get that in. But yeah, it’s just my teeth.

Because before your teeth were covered, sort of.
Well, I was covered with—it was meant to be someone that hasn’t brushed in a while. And also, years of drug use and cigarette smoking would cause that yellow.

So that was more work, you had to put coloring on your teeth.
Oh, yeah. Now I just brush my teeth, you know, really good, and show up. And it made me more aware of my dental hygiene. It’s really funny. Genuinely. I’m like, You know what, I’m going to brush a little longer today, and floss every day. It’s been a good influence.

Playing that character, do you get interesting fan mail from people, who, say, hate lesbians?
I’ve always gotten some weird fan mail, but then I also get some fan mail that brings tears to my eyes. You know, people that have been watching me from the beginning, whether it’s my music or . . . I’ve had things made for me that’s the cutest stuff I’ve ever seen.

Like what?
Oh my gosh. See, sometimes I won’t read my fan mail, because it makes me sentimental. And, I don’t know, each of those movies, or records, or this and that, they all come with a lot of triumph, but also some pain, too, that I don’t always want to revisit. But my mom, she checks it for me. She’ll be, like, “Taryn, you’ve got to see this, what this girl or this guy made for you.” And I’ll be like, “What is it?” One time it was this handcrafted scrapbook with, like, yarn—it gives me chills—and each page was a different type of paper, all my pictures, cut into hearts or stars, and then a poem on each page. A poem that they wrote about me.

Do you ever get mail from actual prisoners who are watching OITNB?
Yeah. But what’s crazy is I thought I would get a lot of hate mail, with the religious stuff, and the racism that my character displays, which bothers me, as Taryn. But I haven’t, so that was good.

Do people sometimes mistake you for that character, and approach you?

Oh, totally. Yeah. People will grab me now—they’ll actually grab me—and be like, “Heeeeyyy!” It’s scary; I’m just, like, walking, I’ll be grabbed from behind, and it’s this scary, huge man, that’s like, “You!!” And I’m, like, “What?! What did I do?” [Laughs] Or people will be, not, “You played that prostitute in Hustle & Flow,” but, like, “You’re that whore! You’re that whore!” And I’m, like, What? And then I realize what they’re saying, and I’m like, you know, there’s a better way of putting that [laughs].